Page 47 - Walking_The_Red_Road

Many of the women said they came to North Bay to stay at the Ojibway Women’s Lodge (Aboriginal women’s shelter) and ended up living in North Bay. The men chose North Bay mainly because they had passed through the city previously and liked it. Participants added that if the men had criminal charges, and even if they had children, they could not stay at the Crisis Centre, the only place in our community that offers a place for homeless men. The majority view North Bay as the place they want to stay, having already lived in Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Sudbury, Toronto or Ottawa.
What we did and what we learned
We asked the participants to share their stories of home and homelessness, allowing conversations to evolve. Once the discussions were completed, we reviewed the transcripts and determined the following themes:
1. Aboriginal community members want to find “home” in North Bay.
People like their privacy. People like their independence. But you don’t have that...in a shelter. But when you have no other options and you have kids that are depending on you, you just suck it up and you just stay in a shelter.
There’s not much out there, really. Rooms. But I’m almost fifty and I don’t want to live in a room. You know. I need a little more space than that.
Across all of the discussions, a desire for privacy and a clean, safe home came through. However, the participants described facing numerous obstacles and barriers when it came to securing housing— some participants describing a “cycle” of problems.
2. Being homeless in North Bay means couch surfing and/or living in compromised circumstances.
I think North Bay is unique in the fact that we don’t have people in shopping carts
and sleeping...downtown kind of thing. But I think we have more of a couch-surfing population. ‘Cause there are homeless people. I’ve taken in a few myself; young people. I mean, being an addict, we burn bridges. And quickly. So a lot of people have nowhere to go.
As one participant noted, homelessness in North Bay doesn’t necessarily look like one might expect. Couch surfing and multiple families living in one home are common. Additional household members often include parents, relatives with mental and/or physical health challenges such as depression or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), children or expectant mothers, or recent arrivers from the James Bay coast.
For the participants, being homeless meant they did not have a private space to call their own with the basic amenities of a home including a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Being homeless also meant no safe space for children to play unencumbered by landlords demanding quiet. It also meant living in places where mould or other conditions increased risk of illness and disease. Hotel and motel rooms, slum apartments and the couches of friends and family members were not considered homes.
Walking the Red Road | REPORT OF THE URBAN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE PROJECT | 47
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